Reporter's Notebook: Female Circumcision in Africa

Kristin WhitingNational Geographic Today

February 19, 2002

Circumcising young girls is a practice that dates back beyond anyone's
memory in Kenya. Even though the Kenyan government recently banned the
practice, parents are still risking jail terms and heavy fines to put
their daughters through this rite of passage. More than a third of women
in Kenya between the ages of 15 and 49 have been subjected to some form
of genital circumcision. It is clear that the tradition will be
difficult to eradicate.

National Geographic Today traveled
to Kenya in December because it is the traditional month for
circumcision ceremonies. Our intention was to travel southwest of
Nairobi to Kisii where we know the practice of these rites of passage
still flourish. Although 38 percent of Kenyan women have been
circumcised, in Kisii that figure rises to 97 percent.

While traveling through the Masai Mara wildlife reserve in southwest Kenya we crossed paths with a Masai rancher who stopped to tell us he was making his way to a boy's circumcision ceremony. We asked him to take us along and he led us to the manyatta, or village.

When we reached the manyatta we negotiated with the village chief to observe the ceremony. After years of being photographed the Masai have learned to ask for money. The village chief, Joseph Ketuyio, expressed concerns that we would photograph the children who would be naked at times. Ketuyio also told us that the next day three girls would be circumcised. He tells us photographing the actual cutting is forbidden. We agreed, paid a fee and began shooting what proved to be a frenzied event.

As Masai tradition mandates, the boy spent the night out in the bush, then made his way with a large herd of cattle into the manyatta and then into the boma, the circular animal enclosure where the circumcision ceremony takes place. The villagers didn't let me in but I was told he lost consciousness during the procedure. The elders then carried him into one of the mud huts where he would recover for several days.

The next morning I left camp well before dawn because the circumcision ceremony for girls begins at sunrise.

The circumcision procedure for girls involves the removal of all or part of the external female genitalia. Often done with crude knives in one of their huts, the painful operations can cause life-long health risks. The cutting may cause life-threatening infections, increased susceptibility to HIV, and could deprive the girls of ever having any sexual sensation.

I asked several of the adult Masai why boys and girls continue to be circumcised. Their answer was always that it was to mark their passage into adulthood. They implied that this was how it had always been done so it must continue to be that way.

Only after a girl is circumcised is she considered ready for marriageand the community shuns those who refuse the procedure. I tried to talk about this with one of the girls, Jen, scheduled for circumcision that morning. Jen was the sister of the boy whose circumcision ceremony we had attended yesterday. Although Jen was only ten years old and clearly understood my English she was reluctant to discuss what was about to happen to her.

Jen had a look of consternation on her face but it was difficult for me to distinguish between her fear and anticipation, and her annoyance with my camera. She looked at me with a piercing, wise-beyond-her-years, glare.

The ceremony began with a group of young girlssome of whom were circumcised just a month earlierencircling Jen and the two others awaiting their circumcision. There were far fewer people here than there were to celebrate the boy's coming of age.

The girls blew whistles and sang for more than an hour. Chief Ketuyio explained that the group is there to support the three girls and make sure they feel brave. When I asked him how he thought they were feeling, he told me they were happy.